Loyalty
by LillithxLuna
Summary: A drabble set in the beginning of Season 2. Claire doesn't love dogs but she admires their loyalty towards their owners. While watching Vincent and remembering her old dog, she wonders why humans can't be the same


Claire never understood the concept of loyalty. She thought humans were incapable of it. No one in her life had ever been loyal to her. As she cradled Aaron in her arms, watching the stars on the beach, she tried to remember anyone who had always been there for her. She couldn't think of anyone, until she spotted Vincent running around the beach. Claire wasn't much of a dog person, but she will always have fond memories of the only dog she ever had.

* * *

Scout was the name of the lovely brown-eyed German shepherd her mother gave her on Claire's 8th birthday. She was more than surprised when a puppy came out of one of the present boxes, waving his tail and barking. Claire was afraid of dogs back then, and Carole told her that pets were a wonderful friend to have and Claire needed to lose her fear. Unsure at first, she reached her hand out for her new puppy. Scout sniffed it and started to bite her. Surprisingly, Claire found that there was nothing to be afraid of, even if its sharp teeth hurt a little.

She spent that whole day running around the house with Scout.

* * *

The years went by fast. Claire was now an angst-filled 14 year-old. Scout, now a 70 pound 6 year-old, was still always there to cheer her up. In between the fights she was having with her mom and the usual stress from school, she thought of Scout as the only constant in her crazy life.

One day, she started to wonder how much dogs could actually feel.

Claire woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. As she walked towards the kitchen, she found Scout sitting up straight, facing the front door of the house. He looked so... alert, as if he was waiting for someone to break in. Even so, Claire noticed his head falling forward every now and then. The poor dog must be exhausted... why doesn't he just go to sleep?

She kneeled on the floor next to him "Scout, go to sleep," she whispered, so as to not wake her mother up. The dog briefly turned to look at her, but didn't make any motions to go to his sleeping spot.

"Sweetheart, you have to go to sleep! If you don't, you'll be tired tomorrow, and we won't be able to play with your ball!" She tried once again, petting his head "You love to play with your ball..."

Still Scout wouldn't move. "Okay, then... goodnight, Scout."

The next night, Claire decided to see if Scout would do the same thing as the previous night. She thought that she had given up quickly, but she wasn't going to let it go that easily today. Scout had been exhausted most of the day, much like Claire had figured. That couldn't be healthy.

Once again, there was Scout, in the same position. Once again, Claire tried her best to make him go to sleep, but failed miserably and she gave up about an hour later.

She didn't understand Scout. She didn't know why he'd do such thing. Deprive himself from sleep just to make sure that his owners were safe. It was a noble cause, but Claire, in her young immature mind, thought it was stupid. Sure, she loved her dog completely and made sure that he had always the best things, but it was stupid. There wasn't any gain for him at all. There wasn't ever any real danger in sight, but every night, Scout was there, sitting in his military dog position, ready to save the day. It'd been like that since he passed away four years later.

* * *

Claire looked at the stars once more before going to her tent, ready to go to sleep. She put Aaron in his crib and lay down on her makeshift bed. She briefly wondered where Charlie was before closing her eyes and falling asleep to the sound of Vincent barking in the distance.

When she opened her eyes again, it was still dark. She must have gone to bed earlier than she thought it was, because she felt fully rested. She looked at the crib and Aaron was still asleep.

She slowly sat up to find the most unbelievable sight. Charlie was seated at the front of her tent, moving his head around as if scanning the beach. Claire blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She wasn't.

"Charlie?" She whispered.

He turned around and Claire could see the bags under his eyes growing darker. "Claire, what's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

She crawled to take a seat next to him "Nothing, except... have you been here all night?"

Charlie looked at his hands, folded in front of him "I couldn't sleep."

"Are you sure? You look so tired..." She brushed the hair away from his face.

"Yeah... it's okay, really. I told you before that I'm not much of a sleeper," he tried to make it seem like it was a casual thing not to sleep at all. "You should be the one getting some rest. Aaron is going to need his mum taking care of him tomorrow."

"I'm not sleepy anymore. I just woke up."

"But it's still late. It's not gonna be morning for at least two hours."

Claire could tell that he just wanted her to drop the subject. She knew he wasn't awake because of insomnia. "Charlie, look at me." He did "Are you standing guard?"

He didn't reply and looked to the ocean again. She gently turned his face towards hers again "Are you, Charlie?"

He sighed "I just want to make sure you and Aaron are safe. I know I've been doing such a crappy job at it lately but... I'm not gonna let it happen again."

"Why do you think you've done a crappy job? I'm here. Aaron's here. We're safe, Charlie."

"Safe for now. You don't know if that crazy French lady might come back. Or the 'others'; if they're real at all," he said.

"But you don't have to do this to yourself. If there's any noise I'm sure we'll wake up."

"But what if we don't, Claire? They're just gonna come and take you or Aaron again and I'm gonna stay here thinking that I could have stopped it if I had been awake!"

She could see he was getting angry now. She couldn't say much about this, but she knew Charlie was hurt when she didn't remember him. He told her that they were together when Ethan took her. Maybe he was trying to redeem himself with her; he must have been feeling guilty for a long time now. And surely, the kidnapping of Aaron didn't help either.

She tried to let him off the hook "It wasn't your fault, Charlie. None of it."

He looked down again "Of course it was. If I had found Jack instead of asking Ethan to do it... or if I hadn't left you alone with that woman... I could have stopped all of this."

"But Charlie..."

"I'm not going to leave, Claire."

Charlie looked at her. The moon shone in his eyes and Claire could see a determination that she'd never seen before on a person. Nothing was going to take him away from that spot. And much like all the nights with Scout, Claire gave up.

She sighed "Okay, Charlie. Good night." And she went back to her bed.

Claire never understood the concept of loyalty. She thought it was something humans were incapable of. But as she looked at Charlie's back; straight and alert; she thought that maybe she had just been unlucky.

She never got around to thank Scout for his efforts. She had to remember to thank Charlie for showing her that loyalty isn't something exclusive for dogs.

It's just something you do for the ones you love.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ It's been a while, right? (sorry about that) I miss writing and posting things so while I still try to figure out how to finish Take You Away have this thing I wrote two years ago. It's not that great but maybe it'll motivate me to write again. I have a Tumblr, if you want to yell at me for not writing, the url is the same as my pen name (it's not Lost related though, sorry, I haven't been keeping up with the Lost fandom lately, but I do plan on getting back on that soon) Thank you for reading it! (and review it if you like :D)_


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